kwame kwei-armah, welcome to hardtalk. ., ~ , c, kwame kwei-armah, welcome to hardtalk. ., ~ a kwame -armah, welcome to hardtalk. ., a c, hardtalk. thank you so much for havin: hardtalk. thank you so much for having me- _ hardtalk. thank you so much for having me- it _ hardtalk. thank you so much for having me. it is— hardtalk. thank you so much for having me. it is a _ hardtalk. thank you so much for having me. it is a great _ having me. it is a great pleasure _ having me. it is a great pleasure to _ having me. it is a great pleasure to have - having me. it is a great pleasure to have you. | having me. it is a great i pleasure to have you. you having me. it is a great - pleasure to have you. you have beenin pleasure to have you. you have been in the theatre business as an actor, writer and director for best part of three decades. ijust for best part of three decades. i just used that for best part of three decades. ijust used that phrase, some would use and call it a cliche about the culture wars. does it feel to you today there is a somewhat toxic culture walkways and i think you fr

right, but this isn'tjust about kwame kwei—armah, is it?to greg doran at the rsc, i've spoken to actors like rupert everett. rupert everett has a strong feeling that we are getting far too hung up on this sort of notion of authenticity and lived experience when it comes to casting, ie you don't have to be gay to play the part of a gay person onstage. i wonder whether you share that feeling or whether you think authenticity requires that sort of thing. i think it depends on the play, it depends on the artist and it depends on the audience. as far as i'm concerned, when you walk into a theatre, you hang your literal boots up at the door, which for me means that most people should have access to most things. there are protected characteristics in which, if i'm going to cast a white actor to play a black character as written, i will think about the history of discrimination, i will think about how my audience might respond to it and if, ultimately, it will serve the play. in a similar way, if i had a black actor in a part that might be traditio

kwame kwei-armah, welcome to hardtalk. ., ~ , ., kwame kwei-armah, welcome to hardtalk. ., ~ .ing me- _ hardtalk. thank you so much for having me- it _

kwame kwei—armah, welcome to hardtalk. thank you so much for having me.ter and a director for the best part of three decades. ijust used that phrase, some would call it a cliche,

my guest is the ground—breaking playwright and artistic director of london's young vic theatre, kwame kwei